National Briefing | South: Georgia: Lawsuit Claims Trick Settlements

By Ariel Hart (NYT)

Published: June 26, 2004

A lawsuit filed Thursday said that a chemical company, BioLab, had tricked people affected by a fire into accepting tiny settlements. A May 25 fire at the company's warehouse in Conyers sent a huge plume of smoke tainted with chlorine into the sky east of Atlanta for hours, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. The suit said people representing the company ''trolled gymnasiums'' and places where local residents had sought shelter and gave them amounts as small as $50 or $75 as ''free money'' that turned out to be settlements of all claims. A spokesman for BioLab said it was still reviewing the suit. Ariel Hart (NYT)